THE MODERATOR: Round three of the championship here in 2025. Lochie Hughes still celebrating at victory podium. He'll join us here momentarily.
Currently joined by the second place finishing driver in Caio Collet, driver of the No. 76 HMD Motorsports car. First runnerup finish of the season. Second podium of 2025. Eighth career podium.
Myles Rowe also joining us. Driver of the No. 99 Abel Motorsports Force INDYCAR with his first career podium in INDY NXT by Firestone. Now just 34 points behind Dennis Hauger in the championship.
Let's start with Caio. A lot of action at the very beginning, and then you had to keep everybody at bay on those two restarts, although you were trying to put some pressure on Lochie, obviously. Just tell us about your afternoon.
CAIO COLLET: Yeah, I think it was a good afternoon, especially after qualifying. We struggled I think a bit today. I had a really good start. First lap I think the opportunities came up to me, and we did the best.
Afterwards I think I knew from this morning we had a good car. I think for qualifying I struggled a little bit, but in the race I think we put everything together. We had a good pace.
Obviously I think Lochie was a little bit quicker than us. I didn't want to push too much on the tire. I think last year I made that mistake, and I think this year I was just trying to play a bit more safe, and hopefully it would pay off in the end. But I think he just did a really, really good job today, and he deserved the win.
Yeah, happy to be in second place. Starting sixth I think was a good recovery, and hopefully tomorrow we can be here again.
THE MODERATOR: Myles, a long time coming first podium for you in the INDY NXT by Firestone Series, which leads up to the NTT INDYCAR Series. A lot of action at the beginning. How did you maintain your position at the start?
MYLES ROWE: As Caio said, there were a few opportunities that presented themselves from our row, and I was one of those opportunities. We kind of slotted in at third at the end of the first lap.
Yeah, I think naturally Lochie and Caio had a bit more pace. I think I was a little bit on pace for Caio at the beginning, but then I felt we had to protect our left rear a little bit and just manage for whatever restarts might have came, which did come, which I'm glad we could have managed that.
It was a good run for us. Looking forward to tomorrow and closing out well. But, yeah, very happy with the P3, and naturally, yeah, looking for more and hoping to build on us.
THE MODERATOR: Obviously joined by Lochie Hughes, who led all 35 laps early this evening. No. 26 machine McGinley Clinic/USF Pro Championship car for Andretti Global with his first win of the season. Third podium of 2025. Now just three points behind Dennis Hauger in the championship for you. Congratulations. Win number one. Tell us about it.
LOCHIE HUGHES: Yeah, thank you. By the look of it, it looked like a pretty easy race, but it wasn't. That's for sure.
Yeah, it was tough around here with just different conditions throughout the day with practice and qualifying and just trying to manage the tires throughout the race. Had a few moments. Ended up clipping the wall a little bit there.
THE MODERATOR: What happened?
LOCHIE HUGHES: I actually went to touch the push-to-pass and sort of had a snap, and the wheel came out of my hands a little bit and clipped the wall. So it was actually a bit of a hard hit, but I hit it pretty square. So got over that one. Otherwise, I would have looked like a bit of a fool
Yeah, no, great to get the win finally. Obviously, Dennis been dominating lately, so yeah, to go to a track that I know a bit more and a place where I drove the car for the first time and have a good result, it's pretty cool.
THE MODERATOR: Were you concerned that maybe it did some damage, toe link or something on that when you hit the wall?
LOCHIE HUGHES: Yeah, for sure. Those two laps there where I was going around going, Please, nothing be broken. It was a little bit bent, but yeah, she pulled through.
THE MODERATOR: The restarts, how nerve-wracking for you?
LOCHIE HUGHES: Yeah, it was just frustrating really because I always build a gap and was just managing it. Then, you know, another restart bringing everyone back together. With turn one here you never quite know what's going to go on, even if you get a perfect restart. So there's always a chance of something out of your control happening into there.
No, just happy to lead all the laps and, yeah, finish the race. I was just counting down the laps, to be honest, the whole race.
THE MODERATOR: Congratulations. Open it up to questions.
Q. I have two questions. Lochie, driving for Andretti Global, INDYCAR and NXT are totally different animals, machines, cars. Is there engineering input from the INDYCAR to INDY NXT? Is there some cooperation, help?
LOCHIE HUGHES: I'm sure they talk and do stuff, but nothing that I have ever asked about. I mean, when you are a part of a big INDYCAR team, I'm sure they're all talking and sharing stuff. If they learn something from the INDYCAR side of things, I'm sure they pass that on, but yeah, nothing that I've asked about too much. I just try to focus on my own program and my own engineer, so yeah.
Q. Then a question for you, Caio. You are racing for HMD Motorsports. Your team is just filling 50%. Is there a logistic challenge when the team is entering so many cars? How is the corporation briefing with such a big amount of cars?
CAIO COLLET: I think they do a very good job. To be honest, I don't think everyone understands how hard it is to run nine cars. Obviously coming from my second year, I tried to understand and help the team a little bit better, but I think they just do an unbelievable job in just running all the nine cars and competitive nine cars.
Obviously sometimes it's a lot of information that you need to filter and know what you need exactly. So I think organization is key inside the team, and I think we are doing a pretty good job.
Q. Lochie, you said a little bit bent from the damage from the wall. Will that impact you at all tomorrow?
LOCHIE HUGHES: No, they'll just change it overnight. Yeah, it should be all right.
Q. They can change that?
THE MODERATOR: Correct, yes. They can do whatever adjustment is needed. They'll go back through tech after that.
Q. Myles, yesterday afternoon sitting up here you said you felt more comfortable now in your second season because you had people that you felt were believing in you. What does your performance and result today do for your confidence?
MYLES ROWE: Oh, it just affirms a little bit more about the pace we have. I don't think what I did today was a shocker to anybody, especially on the team. Honestly I think me and the team know that there's a lot more in there still confidence-wise. That never falters. That stays with me through whatever I'm doing.
I've had that all through my racing career. Even last year, it wasn't a confidence thing. So, yeah, it's always been pretty high. Well, not too high.
Q. Lochie, I believe your parents are here.
LOCHIE HUGHES: Yes.
Q. What's it like to get your first win with them here? They're going to have to stay throughout the summer, right?
LOCHIE HUGHES: Hope not. Joking. No, it's cool. I think this is the third race they've been to since I've been racing over here in the States. They saw me win the championship last year in Portland, but I haven't really had any -- like hasn't gone too well when they've been here, to be honest. It's good that it has, so there's no excuse for them not to come.
Yeah, obviously cool. I mean, my mom doesn't even watch the races, so I'm surprised she was even down there. So, yeah, it's cool to have everyone here, yeah.
Q. Myles and Caio, this race last year, we didn't see a lot of restarts. We'll start with you, Myles. How much going into one on those restarts are you driving forward, looking in your mirror? Some drivers have spotters down at the end. I don't know if you do. I know Spencer was up there. I don't know if he was on the radio with you. How much are you driving forward or looking forward on the restarts or looking back? You also had to defend going into the huge brake zone.
MYLES ROWE: For sure. It all depends when you run out of 14. 14 can be quite tricky with restarts here with our cars, and I know the Indy cars.
Yeah, I have a spotter, Adam Fournier, in turn one. He was super helpful for me today. Just making sure I know my gaps and everything.
It's a balance depending on what your gap is, if they're riding your gear box, you tend to pay attention to your mirrors a little bit more than you would like to. Yeah, you just have to know what your balance should be in that moment.
Q. Caio, you guys are going back and forth. You were teammates last year. You obviously respect for each other. Do you know who is around you in those restarts that you can race a little bit more? Obviously you and Myles have that connection, but are you wanting to know who is around you on those restarts?
CAIO COLLET: I think we obviously know how hard we can race each other. I think throughout this championship I have a lot of respect for everyone. Especially I think the drivers at the top, I think we race hard, but we race fair.
I think we did good restarts. Not good enough to get him, to get Lochie, but enough to keep second place. I think what was tricky in the last corner, especially the front tires. The tires were a little bit with some marbles on it. It was quite tricky to do it flat. It's always nice.
Q. Myles, I noticed maybe you had a couple of lockups there early in the race. If so, how hard was it to manage those tires throughout the rest of the race?
MYLES ROWE: Yeah, good question. Tire management was quite tricky today, I feel, compared to some of the other Grand Prix we've been in so far this year.
Yeah, luckily the lockups I don't feel like really played too much of a part of my race. I think I managed it after the first lap and the second lap, but yeah, definitely on those restarts, on the race start, you know, you really have to understand what tire temp you have on the pressures, and then yeah, near the end of the race you are working on protecting a lot of your left rear.
As Caio said on the restarts, you really had to manage the front tire, which we saw I didn't do so well on the last restart, but luckily, I came through in the end to keep the position. Yeah, you have to pay a lot of attention to that in the race today.
Q. Lochie, you and Dennis have dominated the season so far. How much is it a testament to the Andretti crew as a whole to be able to lead every lap, win every race, and just dominate every session?
LOCHIE HUGHES: Yeah, I think it shows they're doing a very good job obviously. It's all I know since I've raced INDY NXT, so I have no other reference.
Yeah, I'm super happy with everyone, the engineers, the mechanics, everyone involved with the team. Yeah, it's been awesome so far. We've had a pretty good car everywhere we've rolled off. So, yeah, obviously it's a testament to the work they're doing behind the scenes.
THE MODERATOR: Obviously another race tomorrow. 1 o'clock. What did you guys learn today -- Lochie, begin with you -- that maybe you can use for tomorrow?
LOCHIE HUGHES: Yeah, it will be interesting tomorrow because I think it will be definitely a lot warmer at 1 o'clock. It was tricky managing the tires in that race, and when it's warmer tomorrow, it's going to be even harder. Yeah, I think that's going to be the most important thing tomorrow.
THE MODERATOR: Caio.
CAIO COLLET: More or less the same. I think we need to do some work tonight. See what we can change for tomorrow to improve a little bit the car, and also from my side what I can do a little bit different to keep the tires alive towards the end of the race.
I think today was quite a good day for us in the race especially, and hopefully tomorrow we do a good job again.
THE MODERATOR: Myles, a little momentum heading into tomorrow, right?
MYLES ROWE: Yeah, for sure. On that note, the double-header weekends tend -- the last races tend to have the most attrition. I think all of us will be looking to protect our equipment and get to the end of the line.
But, yeah, definitely want to build on the momentum and want to be talking to you guys again tomorrow.
THE MODERATOR: We'll make an appointment. It's up to you at this point. Congratulations on tonight. Good luck tomorrow.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports